Money Talk. Learning the Language.

Mercantile agency: An agency that provides one company...

September 16, 1993

Mercantile agency: An agency that provides one company with the credit ratings of another company when that first company expects to do business with the other. A mercantile agency also collects overdue accounts.

Merchant bank: A British commercial bank. A merchant bank is allowed to underwrite new issues of corporate securities, and an American commercial bank is not.